Franco’s Legacy – Spain’s Stolen Children

During Franco’s dictatorship and right up until the 1990s, babies were taken away from their unknowing parents after their birth, to be sold. Doctors, nuns, priests, social carers and nurses were involved.

Enrique Vila Torres (51) is an attorney from Valencia. The fight for justice for the victims has become his life’s work.Alfonsa (43) gives birth to her first child aged 14. But the baby is stillborn. Over 27 years later, her daughter suddenly appears – alive.Alicia (42) is looking for her roots. When the adoptive father dies, paperwork suddenly emerge. It shows that her parents paid a lot of money to a nun for the adoptive daughter.

How does a life change when someone’s own history and identity is forcibly taken away? Many thousands of Spaniards have found themselves in this scenario during the last recent years. They are called “Niños Robados” – “Stolen Children”.